FORT MYERS, Fla. — It has been more than six months since Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida and the recovery process is very much still underway.
Reporter Sophia Hernandez sat down with two mayors whose cities felt the brunt of the storm to see what still needs to be done and how they are preparing for this hurricane season.
Everywhere you look, there is only damage, damage, and more damage.
“To call it catastrophic would be a huge understatement,” shares Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers.
In Fort Myers Beach, the pier is still destroyed, and very few people are on the beach.
Fort Myers Beach is still working to get people back in their homes and businesses back open.
“Little by little, we will get through it,” shares Allers.
Allers said roughly 20 businesses have opened back up in trailers or their original buildings so far. Last week power was restored to the island’s second water station, and anyone who has been able to receive power has gotten it.
But there are still many challenges.
“We are still finding many, many problems that I am sure we are going to find for a while. And having the debris hauling trucks that are moving some of the houses and some of the debris that is still left over, obviously are causing some havoc on some of that infrastructure,” explained Allers.
Allers said many people aged 65 and older have left the island.
Those who have stayed are still dealing with insurance companies and FEMA. The construction cost has limited some in building back what they had, but others see the cleared lots as potential.
“In a normal year, our town will do about 2,000 permits. As of May 1st, we have done over 8,500 in eight months. So, there’s obviously a lot of construction going on,” shared Allers.
Other headaches for the small town have been limited gas stations and few pharmacies.
But more inland, it’s a different story.
“People are still coming to Florida,” shared City of Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson.
“Our downtown has seen the benefit of that because where tourists would typically go, a lot of places weren’t open.”
Anderson shares that his jurisdiction didn’t get hit as hard.
Debris was picked up quickly, costing roughly 17 million dollars. Downtown businesses are back open, except for five, and within 48 hours of the storm, main streets were back open and over 200 rescues were completed.
“The factor that we don’t have a lot of control over is individual accountability,” explained Anderson.
It’s why the city’s focus now is on this upcoming hurricane season.
“The most predictable thing about a hurricane is that it’s unpredictable. Take Irma. They were predicting a 14-foot storm surge, but that didn’t happen. Ian, they were predicting it to hit Tampa, and it changed. And then they predicted the storm surge, and it did happen,” shared Anderson.
He continued, “Which brings us back to, you can hide from the wind, but you can’t hide from the water.”
The City of Fort Myers said one of their focuses now is on using some of the funds allocated to them in a 1.1 billion dollar federal grant to help historical low-lying areas become storm resilient.
With FEMA, they are working on a timeline, replacing traffic signs, signals, and streetlights.
For the beach, they are taking the lessons learned and hoping to apply them in the future.
The first is communication.
“We need to improve on working with our fire district, working with our local Lee County Sheriff's Office, working with local municipalities so we have one voice. So, when people know that we are doing something, we are all doing it together and we can move in the same direction,” explained Allers.
The other focus is on preparing residents for what could happen after a storm and ensuring they heed the warnings.
“Irma was supposed to be what Ian was. So, I think that gave people a false sense of hope and people got complacent, and unfortunately, that cost some people their lives,” he shared.
Now, the quiet town is slowly coming back to life. Local officials hope the next eye of the storm stays far away from their coastal town.
“I think it’s inevitable where we live, we can expect to see hurricanes again, but with everyone that comes to shore like that, you hopefully learn a lesson and move forward,” stated Allers.